Gender Differences in Factors Influencing Retention in Aviation Occupations

In the past 90 years, the workforce has been diversified in many fields yet diversity in the pilot workforce has remained stagnant. This also holds true for other aviation occupations (e.g., aviation maintenance, air traffic control). Promoting gender diversity is one approach to address the pilot shortage and ensure a strong aviation workforce in the future. This will involve opening aviation occupations to all members of society: leveraging the untapped potential in groups historically underrepresented in the industry. Women are a vast resource overlooked for far too long. Aviation companies need to target this group to fill the gap left by traditional male pilots when they retire and meet the ever-increasing demand for pilots and support personnel. Accordingly, the overall objective of this research project is to determine what factors contribute to female retention rate, as compared to males, in aviation occupations in the United States. A survey was created, drawing from the extant literature in organizational retention and diversity in aviation. The survey included Likert-scale questions on nine subjects related to career retention (job satisfaction, professional growth opportunities, challenging work, monetary and non-monetary benefits, work-life balance, management practices, sexual harassment/gender bias, and aviation passion) as well as demographic questions (age, gender, current profession, years in current profession, previous profession, and years in previous profession. Findings from this study can be applied to promote the recruitment and retention of females in the aviation domain and help solve the severe labor shortage affecting the entire aviation industry